Princeton

The borough of Princeton, New Jersey is in Mercer County. Over the years, the town had numerous names, including Princetown, Prince's Town, and eventually Princeton. It is believed that it was named in honor of King William III, Prince William of Orange of the House of Nassau. Princeton's recorded history begins in the late 1600s when European travelers crossed the narrow part of New Jersey between the Raritan and Delaware Rivers. In 1683, Henry Greenland, a New Englander, built a house and a tavern within the boundaries of the present boundaries of Princeton, making him the first settler. In the 1690s, six Quaker families founded a community along Stony Brook near the King's Highway. They built a landing in 1707, and in 1712, a grist mill. Land was purchased for a Friends Meeting House in 1709, and the meeting house itself was erected in 1724. In 1755, the College of Nw Jersey moved from Newark to its present site. It was renamed Princeton University in 1896. Two of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, John Witherspoon and Richard Stockton, lived in Princeton. There is a street in downtown Princeton named for each of them. The Battle of Princeton took place in 1777. It is said that this battle was the turning point in the Revolutionary War. It also made Princeton famous.

Regular Blogs